Process of manufacturing art glass.



No. 718,894. PATENTBD JAN. 20. 1903.

S. ALKE & W. A. M. HADLEY. I

PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING ART GLASS APPLICATION FILE]; APR. 11, 1902.

K0 MODEL.

A TTORNE Y8 llntrnn STATES arnnr QFFICE.

STEPHEN ALKE AND \VILLIAM A. M. HADLEY, OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO.

PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING ART GLASS.

' 'BECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 718,894, dated January 20, 1903.

Application filed April 11, 1902- Scrial No- 102,388. (No specimens.)

To all Lu/tom, it may concern:

Be it known that we, STEPHEN ALKE and WILLIAM A. M. HADLEY, citizens of the United States, residing at Springfield, in the county of Clark and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Manufacturing Art Glass, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in decorative or ornamental glass which is com-- monly known as art glass.

The object of our invention is to produce a substitute for stained or mosaic glass in which the range of design and colors is limited only by the ability of the artist to produce them and which, while highly decorative, will be as durable as stained glass, the construction being such that the design cannot be effaced except by the breaking of the structure.

Our invention consists of the art glass and the process of making same having the peculiar characteristics described in the following specification and set forth in the claim.

In the drawings hereto attached like parts are represented by similar letters of reference in the several views.

Figure 1 shows a panel of art glass formed by our improved process, of conventional design, a portion of the panel being broken away to showa part of the construction. Figs. 2 and 2 are sectional views of the same. Figs. 3 and 4: are respectively sectional and perspective views of a portion of the panel, showing same incased in a metal frame or binding.

In producing our art glass we start with, as a base, a plate of clear transparent glass at equal in size to that of the required panel and trace upon this base the desired design I) in translucent colors, blending and shading the colors as may be necessary or desired. If the panel is to be an imitation of the socalled mosaic glass, it may be made more efiiective by outlining the design with an opaque color, which will give the raised appearance to the design occurring in mosaic constructions.

In outlining and finishing the design the colors may be put on in any well-known manner, and the harmony and blending of colors and the richness of the design will be limited only by the ability of the artist handling the same.

When the design is complete, it is hermetically sealed between the base and another plate of transparent glass or, placed over the design in the nature of a cover, this plate being of slightly smaller dimensions than the base-plate a, leaving a small margin of the base extending on every side of the cover. The plates are hermetically sealed together by an air-hardening sealing material, preferably liquid glass, which is placed upon the outlying strips of the base which extends beyond the cover, this sealing material being preferably used so as to entirely fill up the space around the cover and on the base, forming a triangular strip 0. This not only hermetically seals the design between the transparent plates, so as to be impervious to the air and moisture, but also gives the structure the appearance of having a beveled edge, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, by filling the space surrounding the cover on the extended edges of the base.

It may be desirable in some cases to still further protect the structure by a covering of metal around this beveled edge, and for this purpose we employ a U-shaped metal frame, preferably of lead, which is slipped over the beveled edge of the structure and around the corners, the metal at the corners being cut out and soldered or the surplus metal folded over in a well-known manner.

In an art glass thus formed the design, be ing sealed and impervious to air and moisture, is indestructable from age or atmospheric conditions and is as permanent in its nature as though made from colors stained into the glass. m

When liquid glass is used for sealing the design and forming a beveled edge therefor, there is a tendency for this material while still in its liquid form to run under the edges of the cover and between the base and cover by capillary attraction. To obviate this, we preferably use a dam of plastic material,which is first placed in the corner occurring between the edge of the cover-plate and the projecting portion of the base-plate, as shown at c in Fig. 2. Any suitable air-hardening plastic material may be employed, and we have used such material composed of plaster-of-paris, litharge, and glycerin; but a small quantity only is used, sufficient to close the opening between the cover and plate before applying the liquid glass. This effectually prevents the running of the liquid, Which otherwise might detract from the appearance of the design.

Having thus described our invention, we claim- An article of manufacture as described, consisting of two firmly-united sheets of transparent material, one of which is slightly smaller than the other, an ornamental color 

